Society News and Night Sky Notes – October 1998 | Liverpool Astronomical Society

Society News Headlines

Oct 1st – Uranus 3° South of Moon.
Oct 1st – RTG Heat may account for anomalous spacecraft acceleration.
Oct 1st – The Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft arrives at The Kennedy Space Center.Launch due on Dec 10th 1998.
Oct 1st – NASA’s 40th birthday.(1958)
Oct 1st – Happy Birthday NASA!
Oct 1st – Kitt Peak Observatory is also 40 years old this month.
Oct 1st – Los Alamos forms Center for Space Science & Exploration.
Oct 1st – North Korea says its new satellite can be seen with unaided eye.
Oct 2nd – MIR space staion maybe kept in Earth orbit.
Oct 2nd – First station launch on schedule, Service Module Delayed.
Oct 2nd – To go boldly were no Brit has gone before!
Oct 3rd – FAS Autumn Convention at Cambridge.
Oct 4th – Pallas 1.0° South of Moon.
Oct 4th – Jupiter is 0.2° North of Moon.
Oct 6th – Ariane 44L European launcher puts two satellites into Earth orbit.
Oct 6th – Mars 0.9° North of Regulus..
Oct 7th – Saturn 1.8° North of Moon.
Oct 7th – Is anyone out there?.
Oct 7th – Meteor threat to spacecraft in November is elevated but not serious.
Oct 7th – The VLT commissioning continues with a view of the Dumbbell Nebula M27/NGC 6853.
Oct 9th – Aldebaran 0.4° South of Moon.
Oct 9th – New look online Press Kit for Shuttle mission STS-95.(See below Oct 29th).
Oct 9th – RAS meeting at Saville Row, London.
Oct 9th – Ceres 0.9° South of Moon.
Oct 9th – Draconids/Giacobinid meteor shower peak.(Surprise October Meteor Shower?.
Oct 9th – Were were the Giacobinids?, did you see any?.First Results Here.
Oct 9th – Russian Parliament members appeal to President Yeltsin to save the MIR space station.
Oct 9th – The parent Comet Giacobini-Zinner and where to find it.
Oct 10th – Ceres Stationary.
Oct 11th – Neptune Stationary.
Oct 12th – Colorado researchers discover missing link in planet formation.
Oct 12th – The SPOT-4 spacecraft takes an image of the another satellite in Earth Orbit – ERS-1.
Oct 12th – First X-Ray emitting brown dwarf star discovered.
Oct 13th – British Interplanetary Society’s 65th Birthday.(1933).
Oct 13th – New images from the Galileo spacecraft show lighting and thunderstorm on Jupiter.
Oct 13th – NASA delays launch of the AXAF observatory due to electrical problems and more time for testing.
Oct 13th – Shuttle DISCOVERY cleared for launch on Oct 29th, with Senator John Glenn and six other crew.
Oct 14th – Comet 93P/Lovas 1 at perihelion.(1.692AU).
Oct 14th – The David Lunt Lecture at JMU.
Oct 14th – Neptune’s wild weather.
Oct 14th – Hubble’s new views of Planet Neptune.
Oct 14th – Hubble finds many bright clouds on Uranus.
Oct 14th – Mars Global Surveyor – latest images from Mars, Olympus Mons and Kasei Valles.
Oct 14th – SOHO spacecraft almost back in business.Click Here.
Oct 14th – Live images of the spacecraft for the Mars Surveyor’98 missions are found HERE.
Oct 14th – Recent observations of Jupiter from Zac Pujic. HERE.
Oct 14th – New updated images from the Mars Pathfinder Mission.
Oct 14th – New Web site for ESA Ariane 5 Rocket.
Oct 15th – Deep Space 1 spacecraft planned launch.(asteroid flyby mission.(NOW Oct 24th).
Oct 15th – Deep Space mission press kit
Oct 15th – Regulus 0.5° North of Moon.
Oct 15th – A strange Supernova with a Gamma-Ray Burst.
Oct 15th – Comet C/1998 M6 (Montani) at Perihelion.(5.970 AU).
Oct 16th – Mars 1.0° North of Moon.
Oct 16th – The LAS 11th William Lassell memorial lecture at Liverpool Museum. 7pm. Speaker: Dr Allan Chapman, Wadham college, Oxford.
Oct 19th – Uranus stationary.
Oct 19th – New Comet C/1998 S1 (Mueller)Discovered.
Oct 20th – NASA Atlas 2A launches US navy communications satellite.
Oct 21st – Mercury 7° South of Moon.
Oct 21st – Nova Scorpii 1998 discovered at Mag 7.5 (RA 17h:55m:25s, Dec -31°:01′:42″).
Oct 21st – Watch the launch of ESA Ariane-5 Rocket LIVE.!
Oct 21st – ESA Ariane-5 rocket successfully launched.
Oct 21st – Orionids meteor shower max.
Oct 22nd – New Observations of Comet Hale-Bopp.
Oct 22nd – Turtle in Space new Hubble image of the planetary nebulae NGC 6210.
Oct 22nd – The Hubble Heritage Project unveiled to-day.
Oct 22nd – Jupiter’s Moon Callisto may hide salty ocean.
Oct 23rd – Saturn at opposition.
Oct 24th – The Astronomy Center Autumn star party. 12 noon start.
Oct 24th – The third EUROpean Satellite Observers Meeting. (Eurosom 3) City Observatory, Calton Hill, Edinburgh. (ends Oct 25th).
Oct 24th – NASA Deep Space 1 spacecraft to be launched To-day. Oct 24th – Deep Space 1 spacecraft successfully launched.
Oct 25th – STS-95 space shuttle Discovery mission launch with SpaceHab-SM & John Glenn.NEW LAUNCH DATE: Oct 29th.
Oct 25th – British Summer Time Ends.
Oct 25th – Cargo mission on its way to dock with MIR.
Oct 26th – Hubble space telescope images indicate new expantion rate for the Universe.
Oct 28th – Juno in conjunction with the Sun.
Oct 28th – Uranus & Neptune 2° South of the Moon.
Oct 28th – BAA AGM at Saville Row 17:30.
Oct 28th – New Mars Global Surveyor images show lava flow plates and active dunes.
Oct 29th – Ask John Glenn a Question.
Oct 29th – John Glenn – A return mission.
Oct 29th – John Glenn says his trip into space is for Science!.
Oct 29th – Senator John Glenn Homepage.
Oct 29th – Launch date for Shuttle Mission STS-95. STS-95 PRESS KIT
Oct 29th – John Glenn in space for the second time at the age of 77! Space Shuttle STS-95 Discovery launch sucessful.(Hope for me yet!!!).
Oct 29th – Comet C/1998 M1 (Linear) at perihelion (3.110AU).
Oct 30th – Venus at superior conjunction.
Oct 30th – JMU Public Lecture: Dr Brian G.Marsden from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to give a talk on 1997 XF11 at JMU at 7:30pm.
Oct 31st – Jupiter 0.2° North of Moon.
Oct 31st – SPA meeting at University of Westminster, London.
Oct 31st – The Royal Greenwich Observatory will close to-day.

THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 1998.

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service.
To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.

The Sun and Moon

All times are in British Summer Time (B.S.T.). But Please note that at the end of the month the clocks are put back one hour to take us into GMT.
Therefore subtract one hour from the times stated here to obtain GMT. Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.

Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

           3rd       8th       13th      18th      23rd      28th     2nd Nov
SUNRISE    07:17     07:26     07:35     07:44     07:53     08:03      08:12
SUNSET     18:45     18:33     18:21     18:10     17:59     17:48      17:38

PHASES OF THE MOON DURING OCTOBER 1998
NEW MOON on 20th at 11h:10m	FIRST QUARTER on 28th at 12h:47m	FULL MOON on 5th at 20h:13m	LAST QUARTER on 12th at 12h:12m

On the 21st the Moon is at its maximum apogee (furthest from the Earth) for 1998 at a distance of 406,669km.

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.

MERCURY.

Mercury was at superior conjunction late last month and is not on view at the moment.

VENUS.

Venus is also out of the picture as it reaches superior conjunction on the 30th.

MARS.

Mars’ apparent diameter is now 4.6″ towards the of the month. Whilst nowhere near its best for observation, owners of telescopes capable of usefully applying a high magnification may note one of the white polar caos against a tiny orange disk. On the 6th Mars lies 1° North of the star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) – a star Mercury passed last month. On the 16th the Moon passes 1.5° South of Mars.

MARSWATCH – latest observations of the red planet.

ASTEROIDS.

20 MASSALIA is at oppostion on the 30th at Mag 9.0 in the constellation of Aries.

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.

JUPITER.

Jupiter will be a fine sight for the rest of this year with the Moon passing 1° South on the 4th.

Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.

SATURN.

Saturn is at opposition on the 10th and passes 2.5° North of the moon on the 7th.

URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Both are still with us, but by months end are hiding in the South Western horizon’s murk, within the constellation of Capricornus . Uranus should be visible through binoculars under a clear, dark sky sets at 23h:30m, but Neptune may need further resolving power – i.e. a telescope – to distinguish it from a star.It sets at 22h:40m.

Planet Postions During October 1998

Uranus             Oct 1st       R.A. 20h:46m:14s     DEC -18°:39':58"     Mag 5.7

Neptune            Oct 1st       R.A. 20h:06m:01s     DEC -19°:56':53"     Mag 7.9

PLUTO.

Tiny distant pluto is now very poorly placed for observations from Liverpool. Please note even at opposition Pluto reaches 13.7 Mag.

METEORS.

13th                 Piscids                          Low Rates       Fairly Favouable  (8 day old Moon)

21st                 Orionids                         20  Per Hour    Favourable (1 day old Moon)

COMETS.

Comet 93P/Lovas 1 at Perihelion on Oct 14th – (1.692 AU).
Comet C/1998 M6 (Montani) at Perihelion on Oct 15th – (5.970 AU).
Comet C/1998 M1 (Linear) at Perihelion on Oct 29th – (3.110 AU).

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

OCCULATIONS.

Oct 16th at 04h:57m:16s Reappearance of Rho Leonis.
Oct 30th at 19h:11m:19s Disappearance of Sigma Aquarii.